In the early 1900s, a
businessman, Charles Howard (Bridges), meets a horse trainer, Tom Smith
(Cooper), and together they look for a horse to train for the major
races around the country.

In the meantime, a
young jockey, Red Pollard (Maguire) is having a tough time finding a
job.

When Charles and Tom
locate a horse, named Seabiscuit, whom the previous owners think is a
loser, they buy him for $2,000. Seabiscuit is an angry and aggressive
colt, and local jockeys don't want to ride him.

Then Tom sees that Red
Pollard has just the right personality to work with Seabiscuit, so a
partnership is born.

Together, the team of
three people and one small horse set the world of horse racing on fire,
at least on the West Coast.

In the East, War
Admiral is the champion, and the owners are not willing to deign
themselves in order to test their horse of breeding and class against
the colt from the West whom they think is beneath them.

Finally, after a lot of
bargaining, the race of the century is set, and the world listens.

Commentary

In today's field of movies
that have non-stop CG to make the film work, this one comes up from
behind and bites you in the tail. It is a spectacular story, probably
because it is true, but also because it is about an underdog who whips
the snobs. The acting is not all that noteworthy, except for William H.
Macy, who steals the scenes as a fast talking radio host.

Technical

Seabiscuit is a beauty to
behold on HD DVD. I've seen HD clips of this film at various trade show
demonstrations before, and it never failed to impress. This is a grand
effort by Universal and a film that truly showcases just how good HD can
look. Fine detail is excellent, and long shots can be incredible at
times. I've always felt that DVD did a great job with close-ups (barring
there is no ringing or edge enhancement), but it always fell flat with
longer shots. During the racing sequences of this film you get some
gorgeous long shots that deliver breathtaking detail and beauty. I did
notice some occasional dropoffs in overall consistency that kept me
from giving this a "5", but you'd be hard pressed to find better out
there right now.

The audio is presented in
1.5 Mbps Dolby Digital Plus 5.1. Again, this release delivers the goods
with impressive dynamic range and soundstage use. The low end catapults
you into the scene (especially in the races), and the sense of ambience
is excellent.

Extras

Extras include
Seabisquit's History, Director Gary Ross' dissection of how he moved the
script to the screen, Jeff Bridges' personal photographs of the moviemaking, a Making Of documentary, and
Commentary by Gary Ross and Steven Soderbergh.

A decade has passed since
John Connor helped prevent Judgment Day and saved mankind from mass
destruction. Now 25, Connor lives "off the grid" - no home, no credit
cards, no cell phone, and no job.

There is no record of his existence. No way he
can be traced by Skynet - the highly developed network of machines that
once tried to kill him and wage war on humanity. Until, out of the
shadows of the future steps the T-X, Skynet's most sophisticated cyborg
killing machine yet.

Sent back through time to complete the job left
unfinished by her predecessor (the T-1000), this machine is as relentless
as her human guise is beautiful. Now, Connor's only hope for survival is
the Terminator, his mysterious former assassin. Together, they must
triumph over the technologically superior T-X and forestall the looming
threat of Judgment Day - or face the apocalypse and the fall of
civilization as we know it.

Commentary

I remember a lot of hoopla over this film when it was announced. The
idea of a Terminator film without James Cameron at the helm just sounded
like a bad idea. Thankfully Warner delivered a solid movie that did a
great job of staying with the tone of the originals. While I wouldn't
call this T2 by any stretch, it has plenty of great action, and the story
is pretty solid.

Technical

T3 is one of the bigger titles
released onto HD DVD so far, and the HD presentation is exceptional.
There are some moments in here that will definitely be on my short list
of great demo sequences for both video and audio. Fine detail is superb,
and contrast is excellent. This film has a stylized look to it at
times but for the most part the image is very sharp and very clean. Some
of the CGI sticks out a bit more though due to the increase in overall
image detail. But, the full CGI sequences are GORGEOUS!!

T3 was a powerhouse on DVD for audio,
and this one takes it up a bit more. I was disappointed to find that
T3 HD lacked a TrueHD soundtrack, but the DD+ track is still quite
good. Dynamic range is impeccable, and some of the bass in this movie is
system threatening. Surrounds are used EXTENSIVELY, and as I mentioned
before, there are some awesome demo scenes in this film to show off your
system's capabilities.

Extras

These include an in-movie
commentary that utilizes HD DVD's HDi capabilities. This overlays a
video commentary on top of the film while you watch it. All of the
extras from the original DVD release are here too including an intro
from Arnie, lots of documentaries, and some promo pieces.

The year is 1965, and America is at war with North Vietnam. Commanding
the air cavalary is Lt. Col. Hal Moore (Gibson), a born leader committed to his
troops.

His target: the la Darin Valley, called "The Valley of Death."
As Moore prepares for one of the most violent battles in U.S. history,
he delivers a stirring promise to his soldiers and their families: "I
will leave no man behind . . . dead or alive. We will all come home
together."

Commentary

This film depicts the
first ever engagement between the US and the Vietcong army. It is a tale
that I'm sure few ever knew before this film took place. The 7th
cavalry were ordered to a mountain and told to engage an enemy that was
on its own land, not knowing anything about the layout or the
situation.

They had absolutely no intel. They only knew that
there were 395 US troops to fight, and 4,000 Vietcong waiting. Now
imagine the fortitude and courage one must amass to know this and
willingly step on to a battlefield to fight against those odds.

The
battle lasted three days, and it raged on through the night and day
relentlessly. When it was all over, we had won the small victory, despite
a massive amount of casualties, and we brought everyone who stepped foot
on that battlefield home.

But, when they got home from doing their duty,
there was no one to greet them or cheer them. No one commending them on
what they did for their country. They arrived to lonely terminals by
themselves and later were spit on by the people they were protecting.

It's a shame that the
men and women who defend this country everyday don't seem to get the
recognition they so rightfully deserve. I look back at the Vietnam vets
and can only feel pure sorrow for the treatment they received in their
homecoming. It is easy to see the heroism of those in our homeland such
as the NYFD since CNN and every other network broadly cover it. But it is
almost impossible to see the heroism of our troops who, even as I write
this, fight for our freedom. I truly hope that films such as this, that
depict what being a soldier is, make people a bit more aware of what
wearing that uniform means and that those soldiers can expect the
support and admiration that it seems only our homeland heroes receive.

Technical

We Were Soldiers is an odd one
on HD DVD. The image is rather underwhelming for the most part. The
image almost seems like it lacks contrast overall, giving it a rather
dull and flat appearance for most of the film. Detail is good, but not
great. Things improve significantly once they are on the ground fighting
though, which is the dilemma. I didn't really have any real issues with
the film from that point on; colors were great, the image had
significantly more depth, and detail was more consistent. Without seeing
the master for this film, it would be hard to say how it "should" look,
but I hoped it would look a bit better than this.

While We Were Soldiers may not
look the best visual experience, it certainly sounds incredible. This is one of the few
films ever made that was intended to employ height channels, and there
are several flyovers in the film that really drive that home. Surround
use is extremely aggressive, and the bottom end is outstanding. Like most
modern war films, the sound design is
unrelenting. The Dolby Digital Plus encoded track does a superb job with
this and keeps things intact.

Extras

Extras include a
director's commentary, a behind the scenes look, some deleted scenes and
the trailer in HD.

Set in a 19th century
European village, this stop-motion, animated feature follows the story
of Victor, a young man who is whisked away to the underworld and wed to
a mysterious Corpse Bride, while his real bride, Victoria, waits bereft
in the land of the living.

Though life in the Land of the Dead proves to
be a lot more colorful than his strict Victorian upbringing, Victor
learns that there is nothing in this world, or the next, that can keep
him away from his one true love. It's a tale of optimism, romance and a
very lively afterlife, told in classic Burton style.

Commentary

Maybe my expectations
were too high on this one. I absolutely loved Burton's The Nightmare
Before Christmas, a film that had amazing production value and music
(can't wait for the 3-D release this month!). While Corpse Bride
is amazing from a technical standpoint (the production value is
incredible), the film failed to grab me. I also thought the musical
numbers of the film were a bit uninspiring. Bottom line, if you think
you'll like this because you liked Nightmare, you probably won't. Go
into this with a completely different frame of mind.

Technical

This is a really short movie, and
since it is technically an animated film (stop-motion), it is the first
animated film in HD stateside (Elephant's Dream is already release on HD
DVD in Europe). The image has INCREDIBLE depth and dimension, with fine
detail like you've never seen before. Contrast is also superb, with some
of the scenes becoming a showcase for display limitations.

But, that
isn't to say there aren't limitations. Banding is occasionally seen here
and there, and I found a couple of sequences that exhibited some rather
awful looking noise in some areas of the image. I am not sure what could
have caused this, as it doesn't look so much like compression noise, but
it was pretty easy to spot for me.

The 5.1 Dolby EX mix is identical on
both formats with the HD DVD format getting the DD+ mix. The musical
numbers do sound quite good in this film, and the voice work is
excellent. Surrounds are used extensively to add ambience and
atmosphere.

Extras

Unlike most of the earlier Blu-ray releases, all of the extras are the
same for both formats here. This includes some features about the
production and the trailer.

After totaling his car
in an illegal street race, Shaun Boswell is sent to live with his
father in Tokyo, Japan, to avoid juvy or even jail.

While in
school, he befriends Twinkie, a "military brat." Twinkie introduces him
to the world of racing in Japan. Though forbidden to drive, he decides
to race against D.K., the "Drift King", who has ties to the Yakuza, and
loses, totaling the car because of his lack of knowledge of drifting;
racing that involves dangerous hair pin turns.

To repay his debt, he
enters the underground world of drift street racing. As he becomes
better and better, he must finally prove his worth in that world by once
again racing D.K.

Commentary

I will state straight out that I had absolutely no interest in seeing
this film when it was released theatrically. 2Fast 2Furious had
enough cornball stuff in it to kind of turn me off to the series, and
since this one was a complete departure from the first two, I just
figured it would be mind numbingly bad.

However, while I definitely wouldn't put this up for any awards, it is actually a
pretty entertaining ride. The story is just plausible enough to get
through, and the racing and cars make up for its shortcomings. This film
is all about style and pacing, and it succeeds in that department. The
racing sequences are good, and the atmosphere of the movie kept me
entertained the whole time. This is totally mindless popcorn fun, but it
is fun nonetheless.

Technical

Tokyo Drift is officially the first
hybrid HD DVD to use dual layers on both sides. To date, all of the
hybrids have been single layer HD DVD on one side (HD-15) and dual layer
DVD on the other (DVD-9). This disc is dual layer HD DVD on one side
(HD-30) and DVD-9 on the other. What this means in the big scheme is you
don't have to worry about compromises due to space with the HD
presentation. And from what I can see, there is none.

The video presentation is superb, but
not the best I have seen.
Color rendition is incredible, with vivid tones and no noise at all. Some
of the underground garage scenes are gorgeous to watch, with all the neon
and bright paint jobs. Contrast is excellent, with some images taking on
incredible depth. Fine object detail is consistently good, though not the
best I've seen on the format to date.

The audio presentation is awesome.
Like the films before it, Tokyo Drift really puts you in the moment, with
excellent use of the entire soundstage. The music of the film drives it
home even more, with lots of low end punch. I couldn't find anything to
complain about here at all.

Extras

Not only is Tokyo Drift
a first in the Hybrid category, it is also the most advanced title out
there in terms of interactivity. This is the first HD DVD to use "U
Control", a really cool interactivity feature that allows you to do tons
of cool stuff during the film. When you activate this function you get a
U Control menu on the bottom right of the screen. It will give you
different choices, depending on what is available at the moment. When
selected, these options present overlays during the film that include
behind the scenes footage, storyboards, GPS trackers through Tokyo, Car
damage estimates, commentaries, and more. All of this is done on the fly
and can be enabled or disabled at any time!

Some of the other
extras include behind the scenes looks at the production, meeting some
real racers, customizing cars to overlay into a scene, and more. By far
the most impressive extras I've seen on HD DVD to date.

Now an ex-cop on the
run, Brian O'Connor (Walker) hooks into outlaw street racing. When
the Feds strong-arm him back, O'Connor's no rules, win-or-die skills are
unleashed against an international drug lord.

With his velocity-addicted
buddy (Tyrese) riding shotgun, and a drop-dead gorgeous undercover agent
(Eva Mendes) dialing up the heat, 2Fast 2Furious accelerates
the action into a desperate race for survival, justice, and mind
blowing jaw-dropping speed!

Commentary

This movie just starts
out on the wrong foot with me. I am all about cool racing stuff, but as
soon as the one car jumps over the other in the race, it lost me.

The
rest of the movie isn't too bad, but I hate it when you have to stretch
that far to keep something entertaining. The cast is better than I
expected though, and if you can manage to blur out a few cheesy scenes,
you may actually find this one entertaining.

Technical

This was one of the best looking
D-Theater tapes I'd seen, so I was pretty anxious to see it on HD DVD.
The presentation appears to be identical, which is a good thing. The
image has amazing detail and depth and looks like a perfect film
presentation. Colors are stable and saturation is gorgeous. Like the
other two films, there is plenty of eye candy throughout the story. Fine
detail is excellent, and I didn't notice any ringing or compression
issues at all.

Just like the rest of the series, this
film relies on lots of loud racing and bottom hitting music to amp up
the experience. Dynamic range is impressive, and the low end has some
authority to it. Surrounds are used aggressively during the races, but
sparingly throughout most of the film. Dialogue is free of strain and
inconsistencies.

Extras

Extras are the same as
the DVD release and include some production features, music features, and
a Director's Commentary.

Land of the Dead finds humanity's
last remnants battling to survive the unspeakable truth: the ravenous
zombie hordes besieging their fortified city are evolving.

Commentary

I may be the worse person to review a
film like this. I will admit straight out that I don't care for zombie
films in general. I did enjoy the re-make of Dawn of the Dead and
the UK thriller 28 Days Later, but those are definitely
exceptions to the rule.

Land of the Dead comes off as too cheesy
for me and more like a late night USA movie than a feature film. The
concept is simple enough, the zombies are starting to think more and are
tired of getting chopped up by the living when they raid towns for
supplies. So the film actually lends a bit of a sympathetic feel for the
ravagers of humanity. Not my cup of tea.

Technical

Despite only having an HD-15 to work
with, Land of the Dead looks quite good on HD DVD. The low light conditions bring out
a bit more grain than normal, but for the most part this is a really
clean looking film. Gory details are aplenty, and red has never looked
more . . . unsettling. Depth of image is quite good, and there is no
mistaking that you are watching a full HD presentation, a observation
that isn't always the case with some other films I've watched lately.

I wasn't as impressed with the audio
as I thought I would be. The recent remake of Dawn of the Dead had an
impressive audio quality to it that I think this film is lacking. Horror
is all about subtle suspense and building the moment, and I don't think
you get that here. Range overall is good, but nothing to write home
about. Basically the sound design just doesn't do a whole lot for me
here, so the presentation is pretty average.

Extras

No
HD extras on this one but you do get the whole film in SD on the DVD
side. The extras from the previous DVD release are all included on that
side as well.

Oh no, not
another Batman movie, right? Well, this is the best Batman movie ever
produced, in my opinion.

It is not quite
the comic book story we are used to. Instead, it is a dark tale, with
Bruce Wayne being in a prison somewhere in Asia.

Henri Ducard (Neeson)
decides to help Bruce escape, as he needs him for his mission to rid the
world of evil.

When Ducard
begins Wayne's training, Wayne finds that Ducard's plans do not fit
exactly with his own, and he leaves, under . . . shall we say . . .
protest.

Bruce Wayne
returns to Gotham City, where, having lost his parents to a robber who
got a little carried away, he takes on the role of the Caped Crusader,
a.k.a. Batman. And, we find out why Wayne uses the disguise of a bat as
his alter ego.

Bruce and his
butler (also his right hand man in the Bat Cave) Alfred (Caine) work
together to bring the violence and corruption infested city of Gotham
back from the pits.

Commentary

If you have
seen the other Batman films, this one will really surprise you, as it
did me. I never imagined I might be so entertained with this story about
the comic book hero so many of us grew up with.

There are a lot
of major stars in this movie, so I think the producers planned it to be
the salient episode in the Batman film series that it was.

Technical

There was no doubt that Warner was
going to pull out all the stops on this one. If your expectations are
high for presentation, don't fret, because this is a reference HD
presentation. The video is just incredible. Fine detail in areas is so
good it is almost distracting. Film grain is preserved beautifully in
the mountain sequences, and even the wind and fog don't cause any breakup that I noticed. Contrast is superb, with black details that will
really show if your display is up to the task or not. I couldn't find
anything at all to complain about with this one.

While the video presentation is
superb, the audio presentation may just take it up a notch higher.
Warner thankfully included a TrueHD lossless 5.1 mix for Batman Begins
and it is by far the best sounding HD DVD I have yet. Finally a disc
that delivers some spectacular demo material! Bass is phenomenal, and
dynamic range is superb. Surrounds are used aggressively throughout the
entire film to engage the viewer, and there is some very nice discreet
use on occasion. A reference disc through and through.

Extras

All of the extras from the
original Batman Begins DVD set are included. You'll find behind the
scenes looks, lots of production features, and the trailer. This title
also takes advantage of Warner's HDi and provides an in movie experience
with overlayed commentaries, storyboards, and production footage during
the movie.

It was the 12th century in England. The Normans and the Saxons didn't
get along very well.

King Richard the Lion Heart, a Norman, is off fighting in the Crusades.
His brother Prince John (Rains) is in charge, and he taxes the Saxon
farmers almost to death. Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Rathbone) is
co-conspirator in the grab all.

Sir Guy is in love with Maid Marian (deHavilland), who is a Ward of the
King, but she wants nothing
to do with him, sensing his evil nature.

Meanwhile, Robin of Locksley (Flynn), a Saxon, gives up his easy life as
a property owner and moves into Sherwood Forest, gathering a group of
men, who like himself, want to get rid of Prince John and his gangsters.

Robin meets Marian when Sir Guy is on a trip in the forest, and they
fall in love.

Marian realizes that the Saxons are right in their quest for relief from
Prince John's taxes, so she helps him. King Richard returns from the
Crusades, Prince John and Sir Guy are ousted, and all live happily ever
after.

Commentary

Well not quite. Apparently, there was a real person on which the legend
is based, but he was a lout and a drunk, and kept much of what he
stole, rather than giving it to the poor.

Of course, that is the same for most legends. We remember them as we
would have liked them to be, not as they really were.

In the mid-1930s, when pre-production was underway for Robin Hood, James
Cagney was slated to fill the title role. He opted out soon after,
fortunately for moviegoers, because in my opinion, it would have been a
comedy instead of a great action story. I simply cannot imagine Cagney
in those green tights without laughing. He was a small fellow too, only
weighing 130 pounds. I remember another film, The Oklahoma Kid
(1939), a Western, in which Cagney played a cowboy hero Jim Kincaid
(a.k.a., the Oklahoma Kid), and Humphrey Bogart played the bad guy, Whip
McCord. Cagney and Bogart were big stars, but again, it was comedic to
see them as old west characters.

Anyway, Errol Flynn, fresh off his huge success as the star of
Captain Blood (1935), was then signed. Olivia deHavilland, Flynn's
co-star in Blood, would be Maid Marian.

William Keighley started out as the director, because Robin was being
shot in three-strip Technicolor, which was a very complicated process
(three strips of black & white film in one camera, light split into
green and magenta, with green going to one strip of film, the magenta
light going to two strips of film, one each sensitive to red or blue
light). However, the studio soon realized that the story needed a good
action director, so Keighley was replaced with Michael Curtiz, a veteran
of such movies as The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), in
which he had also directed Flynn.

Rathbone perfected his fencing skills after co-starring in Captain
Blood, and combine this with Flynn's athletic prowess, the swordplay
in The Adventures of Robin Hood set the standards for all future
movies of this genre.
The result was a masterpiece that won three Academy Awards®
(Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, and Best Music), and is one of
my favorite movies of all time. Robin Hood is Five Star Entertainment, bar
none.

Technical

I was not disappointed with the HD
DVD release, as the detail is spectacular, notwithstanding the
appearance that they had to piece it together from sections of film
located in different places (some sequences are very grainy). Frankly, I
am surprised they were able to get the necessary materials together at all,
as early movies were discarded after their theater runs. This was before
movies would be getting shown on TV, and before anyone knew that
eventually, the catalog of movies would be priceless. It is a real
tragedy that most early films have been lost forever.

The 1.33:1 framing is perfect for
this story, as many scenes take place in Prince John's castle, showing
rooms with enormous height. This could not be done with a 2.35:1 aspect
ratio unless the camera were sitting very far away.

The audio is about what I would
expect for 1938, and the production team did a marvelous job of
restoring clarity of the dialogue and removing noise. Erich Wolfgang
Korngold's film score is marvelous, and in fact, is available on modern
recordings.

Extras

These include a very large
number of items, such as The Story of Technicolor, Deleted Scenes,
trailers from several Flynn films, and many, many other things.